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Review : Mission Hill on DVD
This past week I have been enjoying the animated TV show Mission Hill on DVD that I got off Netflix. It was made in 1999 and was first on the WB network until it was canceled after only six episodes aired. There thirteen episodes made and the show was then shown on late night TBS and late night Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. These finally aired the seven shows that WB did not have the balls to show and the shows creators had another five shows written and have made them available for fans over the net. The shows creators had worked on The Simpsons and wanted to make their own show about 18 to 30 year olds living in the city. This was the mythical elusive young consumer market of viewers but there really was not an animated TV show with cast in this age group at the time.
The plots surrounds a group of hipsters living in a swank downtown neighborhood in an unidentified major city. Rather than being a crappy animated "Friends" clone they drew inspiration from underground comics such as Ghost World and Peter Bagge's Hate. The show has an insightful, edgy somewhat sarcastic view of society and while it probably doomed it in the ratings it made it attractive to a cult audience like myself. I sort of consider the show the distant cousin of Futurama that was shit canned before it reached the wide enough acceptance it deserved. Then again I was probably the only guy in my town to watch the two episodes Clerks : The Animated Series before it too was canceled prematurely. I still think that Family Guy is just plain stupid and boring..
Mission Hill had a unique visual style that had bright neon colors with nice heavy thick lines with a better character design that contemporary "cartoon" shows. The background and designs are crammed with small jokes that you some times need to replay and pause to see.
The show stars Andy French a wannabe cartoonist who is working at a water bed store and sharing and apartment with his brother and two roommates. Kevin French is a high school nerd who is brilliant and socially inept. His world is thrown around when his parents moved to Wyoming and he had to finish school living with his slacker brother in the big city. He is obsessed with the SATs and computer games. These two brothers are probably the most empathetic characters for the shows cult following. Keven is one of the show major source of nerd humor.
Jim Kuback is Andy old friend and roommate who is an easy going guy with a cool beard. Later on we find out that he actually has a super high paying job at a major advertising agency where he provides the hip cool consultancy for the firm.
The last roommate is Posey Tyler a some what neo-hippie.
Their neighbors are Gus and Wally an elderly gay couple that are constantly arguing and then making up. Wally runs an old movie theater while Gus runs a diner that is right out of the forties. Their history was explained in the episode "Plan 9 from Mission Hill or I Married a Gay Man from Outer Space"
When the show finally came to DVD they had to replace all the licensed music that appeared in the broadcast version due to the high cost of music licensing. They were only able to keep one episode where the cast sings R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts". Thanks RIAA Fuckheads for finding new and exciting ways to screw over your customers!
The DVD set contains all thirteen episodes on two discs with commentary on four episodes.
Mission Hill was a really smart funny show that was just to damn smart and funny to service in the mediocre rich pond of swill that is modern broadcast TV comedies on networks like the WB. It is really worth checking out on DVD.
Jake at September 29, 2006 
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Comments
I would have guessed at a Daniel Clowes influence just from the cover... Sounds cool.
Posted by: James @ hohocognitive at October 4, 2006 12:52 PM
